Governor Rick Snyder faces a decision soon on whether to sign or veto a bill he doesn’t like. It deals with how the state raises money for Medicaid.
The Legislature adopted bills to scrap an unpopular tax on health insurance claims and replace it with a new, complicated plan to match the federal contribution to the Medicaid program. The Snyder administration says the federal Medicaid office will probably reject the plan.
Legislative leaders want to press the issue. But Kurt Weiss of the State Budget Office says that’s a huge risk that could cost the state many millions of dollars.
“It just puts pressure on other core services that we don’t want to put pressure on, and so, from a budget perspective, but we really are concerned about the long-term fiscal health of the bills.”
Weiss says State Budget DirectorJohn Roberts is still deciding whether to recommend that the governor sign the bill, or veto it and tell the Legislature to start over.
Like 89.1 WEMU on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
— Rick Pluta is the Managing Editor and Reporter for the Michigan Public Radio network. Contact WEMU News at734.487.3363 or email us at studio@wemu.org